Anyone have an idea why the misguided brainiacs at Microsoft have conspired to completely foul up the Word 2013 default table layout?
In all previous versions of Word that I can recall, when you insert a table in a document any text in the first column is left aligned with the document left margin. The table left border (displayed or not) is left indented by the value of the table left padding).
In a Word 2013 document (a real one, not one in compatibility mode), the table left border is now alinged with the document left margin. In other words it is FUBAR.
Why? This obviously was a deliberate change, but I've found nothing from MS addressing a reason for the design change. In almost 20 years using Word, I don't think I've ever wanted my table border to align with text on the left margin. Now, due to this change, I have to fix every ill formatted table that I insert in document.
I've created a macro that works decently for new tables I insert and maybe it will help others fix this mess. Just insert a new table, put you cursor in the table an run this code:
Sub FixFUBARWord2013TableProperties()
Dim oTbl As Word.Table
Dim dblWidth As Double
Set oTbl = Selection.Tables(1)
dblWidth = oTbl.PreferredWidth
If dblWidth = 0 Then
dblWidth = ActiveDocument.PageSetup.PageWidth - (ActiveDocument.PageSetup.LeftMargin + ActiveDocument.PageSetup.RightMargin)
End If
oTbl.PreferredWidth = dblWidth + oTbl.RightPadding + oTbl.LeftPadding
oTbl.Rows.LeftIndent = -oTbl.LeftPadding
End Sub
